"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

From President John F. Kennedy's Address at Rice University, Sept. 12, 1962

I
am not the only one who recently thought of that famous quote from
President Kennedy. It's been resonating via Twitter and Facebook among
progressives who discuss Democratic presidential candidate Bernie
Sanders' proposal to bring the United States into line with the rest of
the educated and industrialized world with a single payer
Medicare-For-All health care delivery system.

It's no secret that
we are strong supporters of single payer health care, and we are
grateful that during the run-up to and during the Democratic debate in
South Carolina that the topic has received renewed attention. Results
from a Kaiser Family Foundation
reported that 81 percent of Democrats favor it as well as 58 percent of
all Americans. It's what the people want -- not what the for-profit
health insurance corporations want.

If you still are confused by what a single payer health care system is, we highly recommend you check out Physicians For National Health Plan's
(PNHP) web site. Or proceed with caution on the Google machine. In a
nutshell, single payer would implement a health care (not health
insurance) delivery system in which all residents of the U.S. would be
covered for all medically necessary services, including doctor,
hospital, preventive, long-term care, mental health, reproductive health
care, dental, vision, prescription drug and medical supply costs.

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So why the reference to President Kennedy and the space program?

No
one said this was going to be easy. Not Bernie Sanders; not any one of
his supporters said "a magic wand" would be waived and single payer
health care would magically be here. But I ask, to quote the great Professor Harvey J. Kaye,
have we forgotten who we are as Americans? When did we give up on a
fight for what was the better alternative? When did we learn to say,
"Oh, that's too hard."

Bernie Sanders has been consistent about
many things -- especially his repeated message that no one person can
change Washington, DC. He is asking for a political movement
(revolution); a wave election; the beginning of the end of corporate
control over our government. If we can't vision a future that requires
us to be a part of our government again -- to push for those who advocate
for We The People, well then folks, we may as well close up the shop.
It took 40 years to get us into this mess. We aren't going to get out of
it without a fight.

Is
single payer possible? Youbetcha. Will it happen overnight? I ask you
to stop a minute and think of the destruction ALEC-backed governor Scott
Walker managed to accomplish with a "wave of a wand" when he had a
state Republican House and Senate majority. We have to fight to give someone advocating
for single payer the tools necessary to do implement it -- a wave
election or working over 2-4 years to elect the supporting cast that
will provide us with single payer. We need someone who will fight for us
-- and who will encourage the fight within us, to quote Professor Kaye
again.

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Yes, the issue of single payer is the right thing to do --
health care as a human right. No, it's not going to be easy and no it
may not happen in the first 100 days of a President Sanders term. But
does that mean we don't try? Does that mean we say, Oh, that's too
hard."

Or to quote from M. Scott Peck, M.D., from his brilliant book, The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth".in his opening chapter. Sentence One, Paragraph One.

Life
is difficult. This is a great truth"It is a great truth because once we
truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is
difficult"then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted,
the fact that life is difficult no longer matters".Life is a series of
problems. Do we want to moan about them or solve them? Do we want to
teach our children to solve them?"

We urge you to find out more about single payer if it is a new concept to you. We also urge you to remember our proud progressive history --
one marked by those who looked at the challenges ahead and said, "Let's
do this." Was it easy for them? No, but they were dedicated and
determined to see change for the better. It's now our turn.

Settle for the status quo when we are drowning? Not me thank you. #SinglePayerInMyLifeTime. That's what I'm working toward.

Joanne Boyer is founder and editor of Wisdom Voices Press and www.WisdomVoices.com. Her first book is "Wisdom of Progressive Voices." Joanne has worked in professional communications for more than 30 years. Her career includes being the first (more...)